Drinks High in Calories for Infants

You can give your baby high-calorie formula if he isn't gaining enough weight.

The only drink an infant under the age of 6 months should have is milk, either breast milk or formula. Babies under 6 months do not need and should not have any other drinks, including juice or water. If your baby needs more calories, his doctor might suggest boosting the nutritional value of standard formulas or adding calories to expressed breast milk. You can also buy commercial formulas with higher calorie counts than regular formula.

Commerical High-calorie Formula

Regular infant formulas supply 20 calories per ounce, the same number of calories found in breast milk. High-calorie pre-made liquid commercial formulas provide up to 30 calories per ounce. Some high-calorie formulas should be used only for premature infants.

Adding Calories to Breast Milk or Formula

If your baby drinks formula, you can increase its caloric value by adding more powdered scoops than the can calls for. You can also add powdered milk or formula to expressed breast milk if necessary to increase your baby's caloric intake. Adding extra powder is normally used to increase the calorie intake to 22 or 24 calories per ounce, depending on how you prepare it, although it's possible to increase the amounts further. If you add powder, use only the scoop that came with the formula. Fill the scoop to the top but do not pack the powder down or add heaping amounts.

Adding Cereal to Formula

If your baby doesn't sleep through the night, well-meaning friends and relatives might suggest adding cereal to his bottle to increase the number of calories he takes in to help him sleep longer. This method of getting a baby to sleep through the night doesn't have a high success rate. According to a Cleveland Clinic study reported in the September 1989 issue of the "American Journal of Diseases of Children," adding cereal to nighttime bottles did not make a significant difference in how long infants slept. On its website page discussing infant cereal in July 2012, the Minnesota Department of Health calls the belief that adding cereal to the bottle helps a baby sleep through the night an old wives' tale and adds that babies need to eat every four-to-six hours because they have small stomachs.

Considerations

Don't increase the calories in your baby's bottle in any way, including adding cereal, without your doctor's approval. Juice is a low-calorie drink compared to breast milk or formula. Mixing high-calorie formula or giving it unnecessarily incorrectly can cause kidney problems if your baby can't handle the more concentrated formula. Pre-prepared liquid concentrated formulas are safest to use because they have no margin for error. Never add corn syrup or sugar to your baby's formula; the high sugar content can cause diarrhea, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta warns.

About the Author

A registered nurse with more than 25 years of experience in oncology, labor/delivery, neonatal intensive care, infertility and ophthalmology, Sharon Perkins has also coauthored and edited numerous health books for the Wiley "Dummies" series. Perkins also has extensive experience working in home health with medically fragile pediatric patients.